My Genealogy Hound

William B. Breckenridge. Few men in the county have made agricultural pursuits such a decided success, or have kept more thoroughly apace with the times, than has the above mentioned gentleman, Mr. Breckenridge, who was born in Missouri, on Castor River, March 13, 1843, and who is the son of James Harvey and Susan (Huffstettler) Breckenridge, the parents of European descent. In 1844 Mr. and Mrs. Breckenridge left Missouri and located in Arkansas near the farm where their son, William B., is now residing. Here the father tilled the soil until his death, which occurred in 1888, the day he was sixty-six years old. He enlisted in the Confederate service in 1864, and was with Gen. Price on his raid through Missouri. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. He had been married three times, his second marriage being to Miss Maggie Light, a native of Missouri, who died one year later. He then married Miss Mary Ann Batto, and the result was a large family of children. One child was born to the second union, but it died in infancy. William B. Breckenridge was but ten years of age when his mother died, and he was the eldest of five children: William B., A. G., Eli Greene, James Franklin, and Jane (deceased). The mother of these children was a worthy member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The eldest of the above mentioned family reached manhood on the farm, and at the age of nineteen years began tilling the soil for himself, which occupation he has carried on ever since. At the beginning of the war he enlisted in the Confederate army, was at the battles of Corinth, Iuka and Port Hudson, and was soon after paroled and returned home. In 1863 he married Miss Sarah E. Mielar, a native of Tennessee, born in 1843, and who came to Arkansas with her parents, John and Ann Mielar, in 1851, when a child. Both her parents are deceased. To Mr. and Mrs. Breckenridge were born twelve children, four of whom are deceased. The children are named as follows: James Henry, William Lee, Mary Jane (wife of Ezekiel Williams), Sarah A. (wife of James Branch), Minnie A., Edward Jefferson, Eli Blanton, Arra Frances, and Charles, McCarsy. Those deceased were named James Henry, Samantha, Vira and Joseph R. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Mr. Breckenridge is an active worker in school matters, and a liberal contributor to all public enterprises reflecting credit on the community in which he has made his home. His father had five brothers and three sisters: John I., Thomas W., James H., Mary (Chrits), a widow, Sarah, David I., Andrew J. (who moved to Wright County, Mo., in 1879, and died in 1880), Anne, (Taylor), a widow, and Jackson. Those not living were active, enterprising farmers of Northeast Arkansas, and much esteemed. They left a large number of cousins, among whom is W. B. Breckenridge, our subject. His wife’s brothers and sisters are: Nicholas M. Mielar, Sarah E., William H., Neuben R., James R., Louisa A., Lucy A., Nancy C., Arra S., and Mary E.